The thirteen fresh water springs that bubble out of the rocks at the foot of table mountain are to be thanked as without them Cape Town may never have been established. The spring waters were central to the decision to establish a station at the Cape to supply the trade ships with fresh produce and water.

A great deal of research has been done on these springs by environmental planner Caron von Zyl and the Cape Town Partnership, it has been announced that they are looking to re-open these ancient springs and possibly tapping them, after centuries of sustaining Cape Town.

The project has been dubbed "Reclaim Camissa" - the name originally given to the City Bowl by Khoi pastoral farmers, "The Place of Sweet Waters".

"This is about the origins of Cape Town as a human settlement. No water, no humans, no settlement," explained Andrew Boraine, head of the Cape Town Partnership.

"For thousands of years people have been bringing their livestock to Cape Town to sustain them during the summer months, because there wasn't any water anywhere else."

"These springs are the 'raison d'etre' of Cape Town."

It was explained by Boraine that in early colonial times the source of the springs was a marshy swamp, this led to the Dutch building canals of which were used to water the Dutch East India Company's gardens and for water itself.

"They built a castle next to the Gardens, and diverted water around the Cape of Good Hope Castle for a moat. So you can see that the first conflict (between indigenous inhabitants and the settlers) was not around land, but actually around water," he explained. "This whole system of water fed the early settlement."

Buitengracht, the Kaizergracht and the Heerengracht, now major streets, were canals carry water down through the town.

"Later on (in the early 19th century) Victorian engineers arrived, and put the canals underground in municipal storm waters for reasons of public health."

Cape Town began to become less reliant on the springs due to various water storage facilities being built, such as  the Molteno dam.

Today the springs' water simply flows into the stormwater and into Table Bay.  However, according to Boraine, this is all about to change.

"We are retracing this whole system. We will be investigating: 'Could we make better use of this fresh water?'"

A couple of thoughts are that the water could be used for providing water for the Green Point urban park or public drinking fountains in the Company Gardens.

"We just don't know yet, and that's what we're investigating. Other cities have rediscovered their historic water supplies, by digging them up."

Boraine said it was also appropriate that the springs were being investigated at the time that Cape Town was again facing an energy-supply crisis.

He recalled how the water had been used to power the Graaff generator, which had been the first hydro electric generator in the country. And also how the waters had turned the grain mill on what is today Mill Street.

"These springs really tell the origins of our country. But also about clean water and alternative energy," Boraine said.